Recruiting: Cass Tech's Mike Weber born to be a Wolverine

August 12, 2014

Cass Tech's Mike Weber runs along the sidelines for a long first down that set up their first touch down against Saline in their playoff game in Saline, on Friday, November 9, 2012. / Julian H. Gonzalez/DFP

For a while during the recruitment of Detroit Cass Tech 2015 running back Mike Weber, it looked like his childhood dream was unlikely to come true. The 5-10, 215-pounder – whose father coaches a youth team called the “Junior Wolverines” – picked up an early offer from his favorite program, but when U-M landed a pledge from the nation’s top running back, Kentucky native Damien Harris, Weber and the Wolverines seemed headed in opposite directions.

Things have a funny way of working out, though. Michigan fired Harris’ lead recruiter, offensive coordinator Al Borges at the conclusion of the 2013 season. The new hire, Doug Nussmeier, came with a pedigree of running the football (most recently at Alabama) and his sights set on Weber to be the one to do it in the winged helmet.

Wednesday, the parties reunited, with the No. 10 running back and No. 103 overall prospect nationally (and top player in the state, according to Rivals.com) giving his commitment to Michigan.

“I thought about having my family be at the games, being able to come home easily, a lot of things that had nothing to do with football,” Weber explained. “Being around my family, not missing out on things, being able to come home. Things like that made me think and consider Michigan. There were so many more pros than cons.”

Weber picked Michigan over bigtime offers like Ohio State, USC, and in-state rival Michigan State. He had also initially planned to wait out his recruitment, but the stress of the process led him to move things up.

“I don’t want to say he was sick of it, but the process definitely wears on you,” said his father, Mike Sr. “There’s a lot that goes into it, hearing from all the coaches and going on visits. Now he doesn’t have to worry about it. He can worry about himself, and worry about Cass Tech.”

Weber, who has run for about 1,700 yards in each of the past two seasons, has plenty of goals for the Technicians. Adding to his individual production would be a nice cap to a fine college career, but his goal is to recapture a state championship. That’s something Cass failed to do in 2013 after back-to-back campaigns in the previous two seasons.

“Win the state championship,” he said. “I might have goals on the side, but they’re all to reach that main one: win a state championship in my last year of high school.”

Tim Sullivan is the Football Recruiting Editor of The Wolverine magazine and TheWolverine.com. He is also a contributor to national football recruiting coverage on the Rivals.com network. You can follow him on Twitter @TimS_Wolverine